California standardizing food date labels AB 660, which could reduce food waste, passed in 2024. As of July 1, it disallows labeling with “sell by” language. The permitted labeling for quality dates is “BEST if Used by” or “BEST if Used or Frozen by.” For safety dates, it’s “USE by” or “USE by or Freeze by.” EPS food containers no longer allowed in Virginia All food vendors in Virginia — including restaurants, stores, schools and food trucks — will have to comply with an expanded polystyrene container ban come July 1. This is a phase-two expansion from one year ago, when the ban applied to vendors with 20 or more Virginia locations. The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality encourages reusable, paper, metal or PET alternatives. Localities may grant exemptions to vendors if they can demonstrate undue economic hardship from the policy.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Organic Standards Board on Tuesday voted unanimously against adding synthetic compostable materials as compost feedstocks to the National List of Allowed and Prohibited Substances. That list in part stipulates which substances can be used in organic crops or processed organic products. The board determined that the broad classes of materials it was evaluating did not meet necessity, environmental and human health, and sustainable agriculture criteria for the National List. But going forward, the group said it’s open to evaluating individual substances, as some showed potential to meet those criteria. It would also consider allowing broader classes of substances with more restricted use patterns, such as for fruit stickers or collection bags. Many composters are screening out compostable polymers altogether, Lewis said, to avoid contamination from other plastic lookalikes diverted by confused consumers. “We are not hearing them asking for more compostable polymers. We are hearing them ask for less contamination in the food waste they accept,” said Lewis, the vice chair of NOSB’s crops subcommittee. NOSB’s decisions on what’s allowed in organic compost hold particular weight in California. Under a 2021 law aimed at tightening “compostable” labeling, the item would have to be an allowable agricultural organic input, as defined by NOP. That requirement was set to take effect Jan. 1 of this year, but CalRecycle granted an extension to June 30, 2027.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is likely to publish a final ruling in January 2023, requiring manufacturers (including importers) to report information on PFAS manufactured or imported since Jan. 1, 2011. If the rule is finalized as proposed, manufacturers will have to report use of any materials with PFAS and stop using new products containing intentionally added PFAS. Anticipating these and future legislative limits regarding PFAS, Pregis implemented processes in its high-performance blown film operations to ensure they eliminated PFAS from incoming materials and do not include within the manufacturing process. Pregis Performance Flexibles customers can be confident that our film solutions have no added PFAS, meeting new legislative standards.